Method of casting.



F; E NGEL. METHOD OF CASTING. v APPLICATION man SEPT-19.1910.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET l.

F. ENGEL.

METHOD OF CASTING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 19. 1910.

1,235,778. Patented Aug. 7, 1917,.

5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Masses;

'r. ENGEL. METHOD OF CASTJNQ. APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 19, mo.

1,235,778 Patented Aug. 7,1917.

5 SHEEIS-SHEET 3.

MM iwifi F. ENGEL.

METHOD OF CASTING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19. 1910.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4- F. ENGEL.

METHOD OF CASTING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-19. 1910.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5- FRANK ENG-EL, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0

t7. S. LFGHT & HEAT GORIPQRATION, 0F NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, A CORPORA- TION GF NEW YORK METHOD OF CASTING.

Specification of LcttersP'atent.

Patented Au 3', 391?.

Application filed September 19, 1910. Serial No. 582,696.

falo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Casting, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a process for con necting a group of battery plates to form an integral structure.

One of the objects of the invention is to mechanically and electrically connect a number of storage battery plates by a conducting member, which shall be joined to each individual. plate in such a manner as to be substantially integral therewith, whereby good mechanical strength and electrical conductivity are secured.

Various attempts have'been made in the past to connect storage battery plates by burning a common connecting member to a number of plates. In this process, the various parts were connected by directing a flame against their adjacent surfaces, causing a partiah fusion of the metal so that the resulting structure had a continuous outer surface of conducting metal, but within the joint was very incomplete and needed only to be-cut into to reveal the imperfecl as tions. By my improved process, the juncture of the various parts'is so complete that, upon being cut open, no trace of'a joint can'be found.

While my improved process may be carried out in a number of ways by a variety of machines, I have illustrated, in the accompanying F rawings, one form of machine which .accom lishes the result in a satisfactory manner, although it is to be understood that other instrumentalities may be combined and arranged to secure substantially the/same result.

In the "drawings:-

Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of the machine referred to;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal'central section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2; v I

Fig. 4 is a section on lined-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

6 is Pe pecti e i w of a d run-Way for the molten lead above, as hereinafter describe Fig. 7 is an elevation of a modification of part of the machine;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a group of plates having a connecting strap cast integrally therewith.

The machine selected for illustration includes, in general, a reservoir for molten lead mounted on a suitable base or support, an extension or table extending from one end of said reservoir and supported in any suitable manner, a traveling carriage sliding in ways on said table, saidcarriage adapted to carry a plurality of battery plates onto whose ends there is to be cast an integral strap, and intermediate mechanism between the plates and the reservoir for forming a mold and for pouring lead from the reservoir into the mold.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a suitable'support or stand 1, carrying a reservoir 2 for molten lead. Secured to one endof said reservoir by any suitable means such as bolts, is an extension or table 3, supported at its distant end by legs 4.

The lead reservoir 2 has an additional end wall portion 5 (see Fig. 3), in which there is located an opening 6, which provides an escape for the products of com bustion from the burner 7, which latter may be of any suitable type, preferably the ordinary gas burner with an air-mixing device.

An end portion 8 of a mold is preferably located on the table 3 adjacent to the lead reservoir and is secured to said table by any suitable means such as bolts, said end portion being provided with a centrally located projection or block 9, more fully described hereinafter, and substantially parallel end walls 10. These end walls are connected by a diagonal 'or slanting partition 11, which,.together with said walls and the sliding plate or top portion 12 of the mold, form a chute or trough adapted to form a oured from Said top mold portion 12 does not quite meet the artition 11, so that a narrow slit or openmg 13 is left at the bottom of said chute, as will be clearly apparent from Fig. 3. The top mold portion 12 is provided along its under side with a series of slots .or grooves 14, seen more particularly in Figs. 4 and 6, each slot being adapted to receive a projecting lug of a battery plate. The

chute formed by the partition 11 and side walls 10, the lead, which has previously been superheated-that is, heated to a higher degree than merely that necessary to melt it, as Iwill be hereinafter described,flows through the slit 13 and assumes the form of the mold to form the cast strap 44, the heat of the lead being sufiicient to partially melt the projectingtips of the lugs 43 so that these lugs 43 are combined with the cast strap 44 in such a way as to form a unitary structure.

The connecting strap so formed is shown more clearly in perspective invFig. 8, from which it will be apparent that there is preferably formed, integrally with said strap, a projecting terminal-member 45 having a flattened portion 46 provided with a hole 47, adapted to receive a terminal clamping bolt, not shown. In casting the terminal strap and projecting terminal portion, there is a slight excess of lead used, which forms the gate 48, which gate is afterward cut off. The projecting terminal 45 and extension 46, referred to, are formed by virtue of a recess 49 and extension 50 in the central block9 forming an integral part of the end mold 8 described above (see Fig. 3)..

In order to form the hole 47 in the terminal extension 46, a vertically movable pin 51 is provided, carried by the lever 52, pivoted at 53 to part of said end mold portion. It will be apparent that by raising and lowering the handle 52 (see particularly Fig. 4), the pin may be raised to release the'terminal member after the casting operation. By operating the hand-wheel 28, the top mold portion 12 may be lifted, whereupon the carriage, and the plates carried thereby, are free to be returned to initial position.

The means for giving to the lead the additional heat referred to above, consists of the pipe 54 supplied with hydrogen, said pipe being secured to the ladle 16 by means of brackets 55 or other suitable supports, from which pipe a number of hydrogen flames are directed through a plurality of holes 54 against the surface of the lead in the ladle, after said ladle has been lifted to its intermediate position, and While the mold is being adjusted in its closed position. These hydrogen flames not only provide the additional heat required, but also burn off all the dross on the surface of the lead, leaving it bright and clean. This superheating of the lead is desirable in order to cause a thorough fusion of the. projecting battery plate lugs with the connecting strap. The pipe 54 may be provided with any suitable flexible connection not shown, so as to readily permit of the movement of the ladle 16.

In order to facilitate the operation of the device, it is desirable to provide means for quickly cooling the larger masses of cast meta}, such as the gate 48 and the terminal extension 45. For this purpose, an'air-pipe 56 is provided, supported on brackets 57 secured to the side walls 10 of the end mold stream of cold air against the sides of the block 9 for the purpose of quickly cooling the terminal lug 45 and extension 46. One of these pipes 58 is provided for each side of the machine.

Gas pipes 59, having the usual air-mixing nozzles, not shown, are preferably provided for the purpose of directing a flame against the lower ends of each of the opposite walls 10 on the center mold portion 8, for the purpose of heating up the walls of said mold to a sufiicient extent to prevent too rapid cooling of the molten metal when it is first poured into the mold, as such cooling might defeat thev object of fusing together the lugs and connecting strap.

After the casting operation has taken place, and the parts have been returned to their normal positions as described above, the plates 42, with their connecting strap, are lifted from the supporting blocks 29 and 32, and the. gate 48 is cut off, leaving the product shown in Fig. 8. To facilitate lifting the plates, and particularly the lugs 43 from the slots in the mold portion '29, either one or two ejecting means are preferably provided, consisting of a bar orblock 60 having a handle 61 at each end, pivoted at 62, seen more particularly in Fig. 5. It will be apparent that by simply pressing down the ends of the handles 61, the block 60 and the entire group ofbattery plates above said block will be raised a slight amount, sufficient. however, to enable the group of plates to be readily lifted from the carriage. By having the operating wheel 39 cut away, as described above, the manipulation of these ejectors is'not interfered with.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 7, the various parts, indicated by the same reference'characters as those previouslyfised, arethe same as the parts heretofore described, the additional reference characters applying only to new parts. In this modification, the lead in the ladle is kept hot by a flame directed into the recess 17 in the bottom of theladle, rather than by the sur- Which is in turn bolted at 68 to the main op erating lever 19. The operation of the lever 19 causes theproper opening and closing of the valve in the pipe 63, so that the gas 'fiamc is directed against. the ladle only when the ladle is in its intermediate position. A thermometer 69 may be mounted on the ladle for the purpose of determining the temperatureof the lead. Although the arrangement shown in this modification is eitective to properly superheat the lead, the arrangement first-described is thepreferred one, as the lead is not only kept hot, but clean. Of course, it is apparent that a hydrogen flame, for the purpose of cleaning the surface of the lead in the ladle, might be used in connection with this modification, if desired. v

The advantages of the construction shown in Fig. 7 are obvious, the edect of having a strap integral with each plate being to reduce the resistance to the lowest point under the circumstances. The union between the lugs and the fillets on the strap is so perfect that, on cutting apart these members in any direction, no joint or opening of any kind can be detected, which is anobvious provement over straps that have been burned to battery plates in the usual manner.

I do not desire to limit myself to the precise details of the process described above, or to the details of the machine selected for carrying out the process, as it is obvious that various changes may be made'in both process and machine, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

,What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is p l. The process of uniting lead battery plates which consists of cleaning molten lead by superheating' same and casting said molten lead while in a superheated condition tov portions of said plates whereby said plates are integrally united.

2. The process of forming a battery terminal strap integral with a plurality of battery plates, which consists in melting lead assesses ing said plates in a suitable rack adjacent a mold, dipping up in a ladle a suitable quantity of molten lead, superheating and clean;- ing said lead, closing said mold by moving said rack, and the plates carried thereby, against the same, and then pouring said superheated lead into said mold and against certain portions of said plates.

a. The process of casting a terminal lug integral with a battery plate, which con-- sists in cleaning and superheating molten lead by means of a flame directed against the surface of said molten lead, and then pouring said cleaned and superheated lead into a suitable mold which includes a portion of said plate.

5. The process of casting a terminal con necting member onto a storage battery plate, which consists in melting lead in a suitable receptacle, mounting said plate on a movable member which constitutes part of a mold closing said mold by moving said member against the remainder of the mold, heating the wallsof said mold to prevent a too rapid chilling of the casting, superheating a portion of said molten lead, pouring the same into said mold, whereby said molten lead is fused to a portion of said battery plate which projects into said mold, and artificially cooling the heavier portions of said casting in order to reduce to the minimum the period of cooling for the casting as a whole.

,t}; The process of casting a terminal connecting member on to a storage battery plate which consists in melting and clean ing lead in a suitable receptacle, mounting said plate on a suitable member which constitutes a part of a mold, closing said mold by moving said member against the remainder of the mold, heating the walls oi said mold to prevent a too rapid chilling oi the castmg, superheat'ing a portion of the molten lead to a degree suilicient to melt the lead of the battery plate, pouring the same into said mold, whereby said molten lead coalesces with aportion of said battery plate which projects into said mold, and artifimally cooling the heavier portions or said casting in order to reduce to a minimum the period of cooling of the casting as a whole.

In witness whereof, T have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two wit nesses.

o FRANK ENGEL. Witnesses:

Carmen H. WAGNER, EDGAR P. REWOLDS. 

